The question was rhetorical. There is little, if anything, left for Lewis to prove after his dominating performance against Tyson on Saturday night.

Lewis beat up Tyson for seven rounds and finished him off with a knockout at 2:25 of the eighth to retain his WBC and IBF titles.

A crowd of 15,327 -- about 4,000 shy of a sellout -- watched Lewis pummel Tyson at the Pyramid, while millions more watched on pay-per-view.

Even Tyson's main spokesman and co-trainer Stacey McKinley, who had said harsh things about Lewis just days before the fight, had to pay Lewis proper respect.

``Lewis fought a perfect fight,'' McKinley said.

Tyson was too battered and bruised to attend the postfight press conference. He was cut over both eyes and had his nose bloodied before Lewis finished him with a left-right combination.

Tyson won only the first round on the judges' cards. The fourth round was even because referee Eddie Cotton, who annoyingly cautioned Lewis for something in almost every round, deducted a point from the champion for hitting Tyson while he was down.

That was about the only bump in the road for Lewis, who worked his jab incessantly, tied up Tyson with ease and landed right uppercuts and overhand rights once he had the former champion where he wanted him.

The CompuBox punch statistics reflected how badly Tyson was outclassed. Lewis landed 59 percent of his punches (193 of 328) while Tyson connected on 23 percent (49 of 211). Tyson landed 20 of 134 jabs (15 percent) while Lewis' jab was on the mark 53 percent (109 of 205) of the time. Lewis delivered 84 power punches (68 percent) to 29 (38 percent) for Tyson.

``A lot of people didn't believe I'd be able to win this fight,'' Lewis said. ``A lot of people thought they would see the old Mike Tyson. I deal with reality.''

Lewis took over the fight with his jab in the second round.

Tyson started bleeding from a cut above his right eye in the third round. In the fourth round, it looked as if Lewis had scored a knockdown, but Cotton ruled Tyson had gone down from a push.

Tyson was cut over the left eye in the sixth. In the seventh, with Lewis starting to up the ante with some ill-intended right hands, Tyson started to bleed from his nose.

At the end of the round, Tyson's co-trainer, Ronnie Shields, implored his man to start using both hands. But Tyson seemed to be in a fog.

Tyson made one last push to try to get lucky with a big punch. But Lewis would have none of it. He dropped Tyson with a left hook. Tyson took the eight count, but Lewis closed in for the kill.

Lewis threw a stiff left jab that wobbled Tyson, then came right back with a chopping right. Lewis gave Tyson a nudge with his arm and Tyson went down and rolled over on his back, pawing at his nose, his right eyelid gashed. Tyson made a belated effort to get up, but did not beat the count.

Lewis said that although he had been criticized for relying too much on his jab in the past, it was the key to the biggest win of his career.

``I was hitting him at will,'' Lewis said. ``He couldn't get away from the jab. I started watching which way he would duck and that's when I got him with some good right hands.''

Lewis, who said Tyson never hurt him in the fight, said it was his most satisfying win as a pro. The other defining win in his career was a unanimous decision over Evander Holyfield in 1999 that gave Lewis the title.

Tyson, 35, asked Lewis for a rematch and the champion said he would oblige only if the public demanded it.

Lewis, who earned a guaranteed $17.5 million, the same as Tyson, is supposed to make a mandatory defense against Chris Byrd, the IBF No. 1 contender, within six months. Lewis also could fight the winner of the July 27 WBA title fight between champion John Ruiz and Kirk Johnson.

Then there's always Evander Holyfield. But really, there are no towering challenges for Lewis, 36.